What Have You Sacrificed?
by not-the-devil-yet
Summary: I sleep a sleep of wounded sheep that jump the fence but are too weak, it's what the devil wanted from me. Put your lover to your chest, put all your fears to rest forever. (Wyatt/Bryan...)
1. Prologue

**A/N: I return! I hope you guys like this one. This plot has been stuck in my head for a few days now. I don't own these characters (obviously), as they are fully WWE's possessions. Yup...so without any further adieu, enjoy! **

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He was blind.

That much was obvious, wasn't it? The man had it all; acceptance, love, desire and faith. He was given the throne and crown just as he had been destined to do...yet what did he do with it? The throne was forgotten and abandoned, the crown broken and shattered in two just as the acceptance and love he had been given. The desire and faith remained. Even through all of the betrayal, even through all of the mental crucifixions and the physical battles that ensued, the desire and faith that Bray Wyatt held in his this company's so called "savior" persevered. He understood betrayal, and as much as he hated to admit it, he should have seen it coming. All along, that had been Bryan's plan, hadn't it? Penetrate the family's inner core, settle inside of the cult leader's heart...only to break it in half, only to reveal the man's true self. But what Daniel did not seem to understand was that this man he meant to manipulate was no man at all. From the start, he had told the universe this. Few really seemed to accept or understand it, though, and their popularly proclaimed messiah was no different.

He was blind.

He was blind just like his followers. All of those people who sat at home or who cheered in the live crowd, they were all blind. They clung to their savior's one-syllable chants like a sinner clung to a cross, like maybe if they just shouted "Yes!" or "No!" along with the rest, maybe Daniel would succeed. Maybe, as many of them liked to insist, he would finally get his chance at the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. But this, just as Wyatt and his family were all too well aware, was not Daniel's destiny. He was destined for glory, yes. That much was true. But he could not become King until he proved himself and accepted his fate. The latter seemed to be the most difficult of the two, but there was no doubt in Bray's mind that it would eventually occur. Daniel was a smart man. Blind with pride and deaf to the truth, perhaps, but still smart.

He was blind.

So many times, he had been told that. Yet with each time, the man had become more and more resistant. The first step to overcoming a problem was acceptance, this was common knowledge, yet Bryan refused to have any part of this. Any other ordinary teacher may have become annoyed, frustrated with their student's stubborn behavior. But, as most were probably fully aware, Wyatt was no ordinary man. Nothing he did was normal, and Daniel could attest to this with full, clear details. After all, one can't be the target of the Family's aggression and its preacher's words without at least _trying_ to understand some of it. And God, had he tried. Some references, he understood. Icarus, Daniel in the lion's den...he understood those stories. A few of the man's more complex sayings, such as his persistent repeating of the fact that he was already dead, confused its focus. Simple logic would point to it being a lie. No living being could also be dead. Unless they were a zombie, and Daniel Bryan was not about to claim one of this company's most menacing men a zombie...even if he was only a never-ending loop of the same old insane prophecies and proclamations.

He was blind.

He had noted Daniel's aura a long, long time ago, he had noticed the feeling of unfulfilled anticipation vibrating off of the uncrowned champion like an angry, yet contained fire. He recognized that fire. It was the same that burned within him, the same that had led him to this company to begin with. For a while, he only watched. He kept his distance. But temptation was such a silly thing...eventually, he could not contain his desire. They set out on bringing the man into their little family. It was a funny game at first, and if nothing else occurred, at least he knew that he could so easily send a rage through Bryan's veins. But he knew that there would be more. That fire within the fan favorite would not die out with only a cup of water or one shaky, desperate breath, no. And when he told the world that my, his friend had been right all along, that was the turning point. The fire grew, swelled just as his new leader's did at the simple, yet one dimensional words. Bray knew that they were only lies, but a part of him wanted more. A part of him wanted it to be the truth, wanted Daniel Bryan, the so-called savior of professional wrestling, to fully and wholly accept his words and teachings. Harper and Rowan were effective, sure, but they were but means of brute force. Bryan, on the other hand...he would bring them acceptance. He would bring them love, desire, faith. He would bring them salvation. Wasn't that his purpose? To lead the fans and the faithful followers all to the promised land? If Daniel Bryan was the messiah and the savior that the crowd seemed to so proudly believe him to be, then Bray Wyatt wanted to be first in line to be shown the man's proclaimed godly glory.

He.  
Was.  
_Blind._


	2. Two Weeks

**A/N: Chapter two has arrived!** **\o/**

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Two weeks.

Two weeks, they had a fourth member to their little family. Daniel Bryan, the supposed savior of professional wrestling, had ever so openly confessed his faith and loyalty to the one man who had earned only the opposite. The instigator of his torment deserved nothing but hatred, disrespect, pain...yet he had a plan. All along, he had a plan. Lie to the man, convince him that this loyalty being given was just the same as the gift of the others, that the creepy cult leader had finally reached him, had finally tapped into his fullest potential of being a ruthless, aggressive animal. That was a lie, of course, but Wyatt didn't need to know this. He wasn't as smart as he thought he was, Bryan knew this. He knew that somewhere hidden behind all of those philosophical, psychological babbles and rambles, there was only a man with a superiority complex. Bray Wyatt was no demon, no monster. He was only some creepy backwoods man who, somehow along the way, had developed a fascination with destruction and death of the not so literal kind...or so Daniel hoped, anyway. Thus, his plan of infiltrating the Family's inner most core and exposing the group's Master for what he really and truly was.

Two weeks.

Two weeks, Daniel Bryan had been a liar. He had been a liar all his life, and for this, Bray felt a twinge of pity. But not for the target of his torture, no. He felt pity for poor little Brie Bella, the girlfriend of the man who had so proudly and so bravely settled within the family of a man who had far more evil within him than he was letting on. Daniel had such audacity, such blind faith in himself...it was a beautiful thing to see, really. This pride would be the eventual death of him, sure, this was common knowledge, but that only made the show all the more appealing and amusing when that pride was eventually touched, altered...broken.

Two weeks.

Two weeks, he had been broken. It was all a facade, that was what he told himself. Over and over and over again, he reminded himself that there was a light at the end of the tunnel, that he had a bigger goal in mind. He wasn't so ignorant to fall for pretty words or polite compliments. He was smarter than that. No matter what happened behind closed doors, no matter how terrifying that house was and no matter how strange the trio was when they were isolated from the rest of humanity...he had a bigger plan in mind. He meant to infiltrate that family, to reveal Bray Wyatt as the broken man that he really was. But somewhere between soft spoken lullabies and charming compliments, that plan was lost. Forgotten.

Two weeks.

Two weeks, he had been under the Devil's command. That was what Wyatt tended to imply; that he was the Devil, the polar opposite of whatever God anybody decided to believe in. Yet...he still called himself a God. That was only during certain periods of time, though, and as Bryan had learned soon enough, the man didn't always hold himself in such a high esteem. At times, he really was just a man. Just a man who saw the bigger picture, a man who knew what he wanted and a man who also knew exactly how to get it. In a way, that reminded Bryan of himself. He, too, had a plan bigger than himself...a plan he doubted on occasion, nonetheless. Pity was what he felt, he realized that a few nights into his stay with the Family. But it wasn't pity for Harper or Rowan, no. He felt pity for poor, innocent Bray Wyatt. He knew that that description was a fair bit far off from the social norm and from the typical opinion of the trio, but he didn't care. He had spent enough time with the man, and he had seen the truth behind all of those strange references and allusions. He had seen the man sleep, toss and turn in the night as nightmares presumably tormented his mind...but he had also seen the man sleep in a still, eerie silence. Those nights flipped just like his Master's opinions of himself, but Bryan didn't question it. Not while he was a part of the Family, anyway. As each day passed them by, his desire to leave both increased and decreased. He wanted to leave and go through with his plan, sure...but a part of him, that little voice in the back of his mind that sounded a lot like Bray, come to think of it, wanted otherwise. He wanted to stay, to help...to have the family he had always dreamed of having.

Two weeks.

Two weeks, he had been a changed man. He still held contact with Brie, but only when he had the chance to wander away from the herd. When the boys (that was what Bray tended to call his followers) were sent out, he was allowed to follow. He stayed with the taller men for a while, but the second the pair went off to accomplish some chore or task, he stole the opportunity and ran off, hoping he could get a good enough signal to call his girlfriend. She was worried and scared beyond belief, he knew that, and he thought it only right to keep in close contact with her. Even Bray had suggested to call her, and if Bray thought that it was a good idea, then surely it was. And so, he would call the woman, patiently trudge through all of her many questions. She held the same beliefs as everyone else about the Family, but he didn't challenge it. Every so often, he would disagree with one of her opinionated jabs at the group...but more often than not, Harper or Rowan would hear it and come to appear at his side. Erick wouldn't speak, he never did to Bryan, but he would only reach for the phone. He reminded Daniel of a child, a kid who wanted attention but was too shy or afraid to actually ask for it. As soon as he saw the man reaching for the phone, he would swiftly end the call. Harper was a bit more aggressive, rough...he would maybe grab Daniel, say something. He even pushed the man on occasion, a silent sign that he should probably end his phone call. Each call was ended with a goodbye, a promise to speak another time soon. No "I love you" like he did before.

Two weeks.

Two weeks was all it took to seal Daniel Bryan's fate.  
Two weeks was all it took to reveal Bray Wyatt's truth.

_Two._  
_Weeks.  
_

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**A/N: I hope you guys liked it! :) **


	3. Saved

**A/N: I'm so glad everyone's liking this story so far. Let's continue it, shall we?**

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He was saved.

He was saved by all of the naysayers, all of the critics who swore by all that they had that their supposed savior would never fall victim to the bitter fruit that tempted him. He was saved by their word, not by any other. He wasn't saved by Daniel's prophetic, yet simplistic confessions of loyalty and truth, he wasn't saved by the Family's hesitant, reluctant denial of their newest brother, no. He was saved by the Universe's insults, their petty, uninformed jabs and complaints. He was saved by Brie Bella's fear, he was saved by CM Punk's trust and faith in his long-time independent friend. He was saved by the support that Bryan had gathered over the years. All of those fans, all of those mindless little sheep who followed their shepherd from company to company, nickname to nickname, they saved him. The Beard didn't save him, the American Dragon didn't save him...it was quite the opposite, actually.

He was saved.

He was saved from weeks and weeks of torment, pain. The Family was a force to be reckoned with, and Bryan knew this good and well. Week after week, show after show, he was shown this fact. It all began with a sneak attack, an interruption of an interview. How the three men snuck up on him, the Dragon didn't know, nor did he have much time to really figure this out. The Devil made him do it, Bray told him that once, twice if he remembered correctly, but he didn't understand it. Wyatt was a twisted man, a nobody with a messiah complex. But he did have two friends (followers, more like it) who obeyed his every command, and most of these commands were to hunt out and hurt the WWE's resident savior. Over time, a plan had formed. On the final show of the 2013 year, he would confess his false loyalty, his false acceptance of the proposed preacher's sermons. He was just faking it, just trying to end all of the brutality and attacks for once and for all. Little did he know, this one evening would change everything.

He was saved.

The first night with the Family wasn't so bad. It was fairly nice, actually, but nobody would want to hear that. They would want to hear how it had been horrible, a nightmare come true. They would want to hear how Bray had brainwashed him, how the cult leader had somehow erased all of the man's memories and made him into a zombie just like Harper and Rowan. But that hadn't happened. In all honesty, Bryan was just as shocked as anyone else would have been. For a week, they stayed there in that rotten, forgotten home in the backwoods of Florida, and for a week, Bryan waited. He waited for some sign of evil, some sign that this Family really was as dark and terrible as they were thought to be. Instead, all that Daniel saw was a group of men who operated off of an unspoken promise of loyalty. He saw a family, sure, but nothing like the evil trio that the WWE Universe insisted he was being willingly dragged in to. He saw two men who listened intently and always wanted to help and do what their brother asked, he saw a man who knew exactly what he was doing but saw no harm in doing so. He saw normality. Routine.

He was saved.

He knew that Daniel was lying from the start. He could read people fairly well, and the truth was written blatantly across the man's face. Had he really thought that such an abrupt change of heart would have tricked his tormenter? He wasn't so bright in that aspect, but Bray didn't care. What he cared for was how he was to keep that facade up. That mask of normality that very few people witnessed. He and his Family were thought of as evil, twisted in every sense of the word, yet Daniel? He was to get an up-close view, an in-depth screening of how they really lived. He would see the day by day happenings, the regular occurrences of the most feared trio in WWE history aside from the Shield, who Wyatt currently had no problems with. Bryan would see the truth. But little did he know, he would only be seeing what Bray _wanted_ him to see. He would be surprised, shocked at how normal the Family really was. That was the intention. If Daniel Bryan wanted to play games, then it was games that he would play. Two could play at that game, though. That game of lying, manipulating, trickery and facades...it was a game that Bray Wyatt knew well. A game that he played on a regular basis, too. Playing that game was normal. It was routine.

He was saved.

He was saved by the WWE Universe. Their faith in him never died. Even through his two week stay on the dark side, even through all of his trials and tribulations, they never once stopped believing in him. He feared their betrayal from the start, he honestly did. He feared that maybe this was the final straw, that maybe this choice would be the end of the Yes Movement. He would never regain his individuality, he knew that was a possibility with going through with this plan. But he had faith in himself, no matter how dwindled down said faith had become recently. His faith wavered, hearing all of those pleas and panicked fans trying to call him back. After his confessions had ceased, after he had followed the trio to the stage, he stopped. He looked back. He hesitated. The crowd was screaming, shouting, crying out that one word that had become his trademark over these past few months. But even through all of this, he still heard the voice from behind him. In reality, nothing was being said. But that glare, that stare from the man he was soon to begin following, it spoke volumes. He could feel it, sense those eyes piercing in to the back of his head like daggers threatening to end his life right then and there. He couldn't back out. Too much was on the line there, too much had been lost. The crowd seemed to think that he was on a suicide mission, that he _wanted_ to be brainwashed. But little did they know and little did Daniel Bryan know, he wasn't being sacrificed or killed.

He was being saved.

And yes, he knew what he was doing. Or at least he thought he did.

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**A/N: Reviews, follows, stuff like that is what fuels this thing and keeps it a-movin'. I hope you guys enjoyed it! :)**


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